and reflects on life…

Writing about Online Meetings

As always, the project started as a “oh, that sounds like it could be useful to people, and there doesn’t seem to be many books on the subject”. While online meetings do appear as a chapter in most books on virtual leadership, or leading remote teams, most of these books are now out of date. I also think, that as more and more people have adopted a virtual way of working, the topic can now fill a whole book.

What I wasn’t prepared for was how big a book it would need to fill.

As I started writing, I noticed that we can’t look at running online team meetings without considering the rest of our communication ecosystem. I started to hear many people mentioning that they only hold audio meetings, – that they in fact much prefer to have audio-only meetings than those with video. Working through the book also confirmed that we can’t approach online meetings like we’ve approached colocated ones: in the virtual space, meetings fulfil our social need and can help reinforce team identity, while in the colocated space, we only use them to get things done.

So, I’m finally at the stage where I’ve been able to write the blurb for the book. Writing-wise, well, I thought I was editing, but over the last few days I’ve come across other material that I want to include, so I’m editing and adding.

I’m aiming for the summer 2018 as the publishing date. It usually takes me about a year to write a non-fiction book (except for my voiceover memoirs, which took me over three years!), so that should be plausible.

I now leave you with the book description. Get in touch if you would like to be added to the list of reviewers – please use the contact form on this page.

Online meetings are crucial to reducing miscommunication and maintaining team spirit.

While the trend in the office space has been to cut down on meetings to increase productivity, remote teams can benefit from a healthy meeting rhythm. During online meetings we can celebrate our humanity and spontaneity – and we can iron out those misunderstandings that creep in when our communication is restricted to the written word.

ONLINE MEETINGS THAT ROCK is a guide for managers of remote teams and those introducing an “office optional” approach. The book will guide you through the ecosystem that needs to be in place for meetings to have a positive impact and challenge some “best practices” you might have come across before.

At the core of the book lies the acronym ROCK, which stands for meetings that strengthen Relationships, achieve Objectives, nurture team Creativity and are supported by the right Kit.

This is a practical book that will help managers and their teams reconsider not just how they run their meetings, but their whole approach to online collaboration. Drawing on the wealth of many years of experience in the remote space, Pilar Orti, the founder of Virtual Not Distant, distils her knowledge of running online meetings and coaching managers to do the same, in this actionable and straightforward guide.